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Three of the kings of England have been named Richard. Of the three, only Richard I succeeded his father as king. Richard II succeeded Edward III, his grandfather, because his father, called the Black Prince, had died the year before. Richard III succeeded his nephew Edward V, whom Richard may have had killed.
(born 1157, ruled 1189-99). Richard I, called the Lion-Hearted (Coeur de Lion), came to the throne in 1189.
More than 6 feet (1.8 meters) in height, he was fair-haired and blue-eyed. As his nickname suggests, he was a splendid
fighter. He was also a poet, and people loved to hear him sing, but as a king he was too careless about his duties
to be called a great ruler.
Richard grew up under French rather than English influences. His parents, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, were
both of French birth and education. His father was the first Plantagenet king of England, but his possessions in
France covered an area larger than all of England. French was the language of the Plantagenet court, where the
songs of troubadours and minstrels were always welcome. French was Richard's native tongue, and almost all his
life was spent in France. Even after he became king he made only two brief visits to England.
At the age of 15 Richard was formally placed in charge of his mother's duchy of Aquitaine in southern France. The
next year he joined his brothers, aided by the French king, in a widespread but unsuccessful revolt against their
father. He also engaged in struggles with his elder brother Henry and his younger brother John. The death of Henry
in 1183 made Richard the next heir to the throne, to which he succeeded after the death of his father in 1189.
News of the recapture of Jerusalem by the Muslims, two years before, had stirred all of Europe, and great preparations
were made for the Third Crusade. For Richard this proved to be the great undertaking of his life. He made a brief
visit to England to be crowned and to collect money to finance his share in the crusade. While there he made Hubert
Walter chief officer of the crown. Hubert Walter governed better than Richard would have done and saved the throne
for Richard when John plotted to seize it during his brother's absence.
Richard returned to the continent to complete his preparations. The English fleet sailed by way of Gibraltar to
Marseilles, while Richard journeyed overland to the same port. He joined King Philip of France in Sicily, where
they spent the winter and quarreled violently. Richard again detoured on the way to the Holy Land, this time to
fight with the ruler of Cyprus. He finally joined Philip at the siege of Acre, which surrendered in July 1191.
Because of his military skill and courage, Richard was soon acknowledged as chief leader of the crusade. Before
long King Philip returned to France, where he plotted against his rival. For more than a year Richard remained
in Palestine. When he fell ill of fever it is said that his great opponent Saladin, the leader of the Muslims,
sent him fruit and snow. "He was brave," says an Arab writer, "experienced in war, and fearless
of death. If he had been alone among millions of enemies, he would not have declined battle; when he attacked there
was no resisting." Twice the crusaders were within two days' march of Jerusalem, but they were unable to take
the city. At last Richard negotiated a three-year truce, under which the Christians might safely visit the Holy
Sepulcher. He then sailed for home in October 1192.
While on the Crusade Richard had not only quarreled with Philip but had offended Leopold, duke of Austria. He had
intended to sail to Marseilles, but he learned of a plot to seize him as soon as he reached the coast of France,
so he landed instead at the head of the Adriatic Sea and then traveled overland in disguise. Betrayed when he reached
Vienna, he was captured by Leopold in December 1192. Leopold turned him over to Henry VI, the Holy Roman emperor,
who demanded a huge sum for his release.
Meanwhile in England Richard's brother John had been plotting with Philip to divide Richard's realm. John wanted
the emperor to keep Richard prisoner, but Hubert Walter raised the money for his ransom and Richard was set free
early in 1194. Richard hurried to England but stayed only long enough to raise more money for a new campaign in
France. He spent the remaining five years of his life fighting against Philip and building his castle, the Chateau
Gaillard, in Normandy. While laying siege to a castle in southern France, he was hit by a crossbow bolt and died
a few days later. His brother John succeeded him.
Even in Richard's lifetime his adventures were the subject of song and story. An early French chronicle tells how
Richard's faithful minstrel, Blondel, searched for his imprisoned king by standing under the windows of many castles
and singing until he finally heard Richard reply. Richard was featured in two novels by the Scottish writer Sir
Walter Scott--'Ivanhoe' and 'The Talisman'.
(born 1367, ruled 1377-99). Richard II was the son of Edward, a hero of the Hundred Years' War. Edward, known
as the Black Prince, died a year before his father, Edward III. Richard became king when he was 11 years old. Until
he came of age a regency governed England. When Richard was 14 the Peasants' Revolt occurred. Led by Wat Tyler,
the peasants marched on London. Richard's counselors sent him out to make promises to meet the peasants' demands.
The boy rode forth boldly and won the peasants' confidence, but the promises he made were never kept.
A group of ambitious nobles struggled to seize power. The group was led by one of Richard's uncles, the unscrupulous
Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester. Gloucester defeated the king's forces, led by Robert de Vere, earl of
Oxford. The so-called Merciless Parliament, backed by Gloucester, then exiled or executed many of the king's friends.
When Richard was 22 he dismissed his advisers and took the government into his own hands. For eight years he ruled
well. Then, suddenly, he became a despot. In 1398 he called a parliament in Shrewsbury and surrounded it with thousands
of his archers. This parliament voted to supply him with the money he wanted and passed laws that made almost any
opposition to the king treason. Richard then imprisoned, exiled, or executed his enemies and seized their property.
Among those exiled was his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster.
When John of Gaunt died, in 1399, Henry Bolingbroke returned to England with a few followers to recover his vast
Lancastrian estates. Thousands of Englishmen joined his army. Richard had gone to Ireland to put down a rebellion.
When he landed in Wales, many of the soldiers he had brought with him deserted. Helpless, he surrendered to Henry
and promised to give up his throne if his life was spared. Parliament accepted his abdication and conferred the
crown on Henry, who as Henry IV was the first Lancastrian king. Richard was imprisoned. The next year, after a
rebellion had broken out in his favor, he was reported dead.
(born 1452, ruled 1483-85). Historians have long disputed whether Richard III had his nephews murdered in order
to gain the throne, as many people of his time believed. He was the third son of the duke of York, a powerful feudal
baron. When Richard was 3 years old his father joined forces with the earl of Warwick and plunged England into
the long and bloody Wars of the Roses (see Roses, Wars of the). The duke was killed
in battle in 1460. The next year Warwick, who was called the Kingmaker, succeeded in placing Edward, the duke's
oldest son, on the throne as Edward IV. Edward named his brother George duke of Clarence and his brother Richard,
then 9 years old, duke of Gloucester.
Warwick soon quarreled with Edward IV and joined the duke of Clarence in a revolt against him. The king accused
Clarence of treason and had him put to death. Richard advanced steadily in the king's favor. In his will Edward
appointed Richard protector of the kingdom and of his two young sons. When Edward died, in 1483, preparations were
made for the coronation of his heir, the 12-year-old Edward V.
The widow of Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, wanted to be regent for her son. Powerful relatives and friends supported
her claim. As they escorted the boy to London for his coronation, Richard had the escort arrested. He lodged Edward
V in the Tower of London under his protection. Soon he took custody of the king's younger brother, who was put
into the Tower with Edward.
In a sermon delivered on June 22, a friar who was one of Richard's supporters challenged the legitimacy of Edward
IV's marriage to Elizabeth and claimed that her son had no right to the throne. Soon afterward the Privy Council
pronounced Edward IV's marriage illegal on the grounds of a previous marriage contract and declared Richard the
rightful heir to the throne. He was crowned on July 6, 1483. After August there is no record of the princes having
been seen. Many people believe that Richard had them murdered.
The Wars of the Roses flared up again as soon as Richard came to the throne. In 1483 he put down a rebellion led
by the duke of Buckingham and had the duke beheaded. In 1485 Henry Tudor landed in Wales with an army he had raised
in France. Richard hurried to meet him. Before the two armies clashed at Bosworth Field, many of Richard's men
deserted him. In the thick of the battle his friends urged him to flee, but there was no cowardice in his nature.
His left arm was shrunken and withered, yet he fought furiously. After he fell, mortally wounded, tradition says
that his crown was picked up and placed on Henry's head.
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